“Unless you’re pizza, the answer is yes, I can live without you,” the iconic American actor Bill Murray once said, celebrating his addiction to Italy’s most famous culinary invention.
But what is it that makes pizza so irresistible?
The answer lies in the characteristics of its ingredients – salty, fatty, sweet – which, although very simple, when combined, create a rich and delicious feast. Especially when a pizza is carefully crafted – with quality, perfectly combined ingredients in the right proportions, secret recipes and airy doughs baked to perfection. From Kifissia and Halandri to the city centre, from Ilioupoli to Vari, here are 10 spots in Athens offering the capital’s most sophisticated and delicious pizzas, whatever your preferred style – Neapolitan, restaurant-style, classic comfort or Canotto. We didn’t include the temples of Pinsa, as restaurants featuring “the ancestor of pizza” are in themselves a whole different story.
Monzù Cucina – Spritzeria
Housed in a beautiful mansion in Kifissia, Monzù serves scrumptious creative Italian cuisine. The restaurant’s sophisticated menu includes five pizza options – margherita, funghi, verde, kermes and diavola. Complexity, harmony, intensity and finesse are masterfully combined by the hands of chef Yiannis Liokas, who brings to the city a high end restaurant-style. All the ingredients are selected with care, the dough is made daily and cured for 48 hours, and all toppings are sourced from small farms in Greece and Italy. Whichever pizza you choose, you will surely be surprised by how well the ingredients blend together, artfully highlighting the main characteristics of the pizza (salty, sweet, fatty).
Our personal favourite? The diavola, made with traditional Corfiot salado (traditional salami from Corfu made from fine pork with pepper, garlic, sea salt, herbs and aromatic plants), mozzarella, caramelized onions, cherry tomatoes confit and ’nduja. Baked to perfection, with a rich dough, wonderfully crispy crust and perfectly balanced toppings, the result is extremely delicate and exactly what you would expect from a “devilish” pizza. The beautiful garden and the elegantly decorated interior of the restaurant add to this unique dining experience.
317B, Kifissias avenue, Kifissia, +30 210 6200495
Alio Pizzeria
The powerful duo behind Alio Restaurant, Yiannis Loukakos and Akis Varthalamis, created Alio Pizzeria a few months ago. A neighbourhood pizzeria, as the sign says, with simple lines, industrial style and neon lights that offers a more street-food approach to pizza. With an emphasis on pure and high quality ingredients as well as high quality techniques, Alio is a good example of urban street food that, among other things, aims for fast and simple food but not sloppy.
In its long menu you will find numerous combinations and options for both red and white pizza. Our favourite is the Prosciuto e Funghi, which, brimming with fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, delicate prosciutto, flavoursome mushrooms and subtle hints of truffle oil, is one of the most refined pizzas in the house. It’s also worth trying the Bolognese (the chef’s favourite) with braised beef Bolognese, mozzarella fior di latte, bacon and ricotta cream.
71, Herakleitou street, Halandri, +30 210 6086304
Franco Manca – Sourdough Pizza
The Londoner Franco Manca recently landed in the central square of Nea Philadelphia – a Neapolitan-style pizzeria that undoubtedly stands out for its 100% sourdough dough, giving the pizza special sour notes. But even more impressive is that the dough is made with 18th century sourdough, slowly risen and then baked in a wood-fired oven. The menu includes eight pizzas – which are numbered – while the month’s specials are listed on the shop’s large blackboard. Pizza number 4 – with grilled cured ham, Italian mozzarella, ricotta, wild mushrooms and some tomato – is one of Franco Manca’s most popular. Organic ingredients that you can remove or add at will, proper baking and a soft and light crust create a very refined and highly digestible result. Note that they are feverishly preparing their new restaurant in Peristeri, while rumours say that they will soon set sail for the southern suburbs.
2, Eleftheriou Venizelou square, Nea Philadelphia, +30 210 2581501
Malconi’s Italian Restaurant
Malconi’s is located on the most central street of Kolonaki and has been in business for eleven years. With an emphasis on quality Italian food, Malconi’s is a Gastropub loved by many Athenians. As for the pizza part, chef Yiannis Kosmadakis creates a special dough from high moisture sourdough, while combining various flours to achieve a fluffy and crispy result. In terms of flavour combinations, Malconi’s features an excellent selection of pizzas, from the old-time classic margherita with luscious tomato sauce and exuberant fresh burrata, to more sophisticated ones such as the pizza with caramelized onions, Gorgonzola, bacon and hazelnut. All pizzas are baked to perfection in the restaurant’s special oven that combines gas and wood. Fluffy and crispy dough, quality ingredients in perfect proportions and excellent baking lead to an exceptional result.
Patriarhou Ioakeim 43 & Ploutarhou 23, Athens, +30 210 7248920
Ovio
Located in the heart of Athens, chef Panos Ioannidis’ restaurant, Ovio, features a very warm and elegant space. Known for his long carrier as a chef and as one of the three beloved Master Chef Greece judges, Panos Ioannidis presents Italian cuisine through his eyes. True to the fundamentals of Italian cooking, but with clear influences from Greek and Middle Eastern flavours, he offers a unique gastronomic experience. In terms of flavour combinations, the same applies also for the pizzas. Of the nine menu options, the Salsiccia Lahmacum and the Zucchini are of particular interest. Rustic in taste, the former reveals the chef’s love for Middle Eastern flavours, while the latter’s taste is particularly delicate. Made in Neo-Napolitan Canotto style that, due to the high moisture content of the dough, takes on an airy and fluffy shape, Ovio’s pizza crust is also very special. The cloud dough is baked to perfection in the restaurant’s wood-fired oven and gives a unique visual and gustatory result.
4, Apollonos street, Athens, +30 211 4115755
Valteziana Pizzeria
Valteziana is located on the busy pedestrian street of Valtetsiou in Exarchia. Warm and urban, Valteziana’s design is reminiscent of New York’s SoHo. On the menu, apart from two fresh salads and some delectable desserts, there are only pizzas. A wide variety of red and white pizzas, vegetarian or non-vegetarian, as well as two specialties that change every 2-3 months depending on the seasonal ingredients. Emanuel, chef and co-owner of the restaurant, raves about his dough, which he makes himself daily and leaves to rest for 48 hours, and his sauce, which is made from fresh tomatoes that are peeled and mushed by hand. The pizzas are similar to Neapolitan pizzas, but with a modern twist. The crust is stretchy and fluffy, while the toppings are beautifully bound together. Some of my favourites are the Zucchini with a nice balance between the soft finely chopped zucchini, the deep Gorgonzola flavour and the herbs’ freshness(oregano, basil), as well as the Stracciatella & Spianata with tomato sauce, mozzarella, stracciatella cheese, spianata, olives, olive oil and basil – nice, spicy and delicious.
41, Valtetsiou street, Athens, +30 212 1073755
Nonna Edda Pizza
A small paradise of Italian flavours has been in business for years in Kaisariani. Nonna Edda is a neighbourhood pizzeria that offers over twenty choices of red and white pizzas. Pizzaiolo Andrea Serrani rolls out his dough every day, enriches it with the purest ingredients – most of which come from Italy – bakes it to perfection and offers an authentic Roman style pizza, namely thin and crusty with interesting toppings and rich flavour. Among the many choices on the menu, the homonymous Nonna Edda with tomato sauce, mozzarella, Italian salami, ham, sausage, mushrooms and onion is a must-try. You can also make your own pizza with any ingredients you wish, while the restaurant also offers giant pizzas at affordable prices.
Ethnikis Antistaseos avenue, Kaisariani, +30 210 7240024
Cupola I Italian Restaurant
Located in a beautiful pedestrian street in Pagrati, Cupola is one of the capital’s most popular Italian restaurants. Modern space, warm atmosphere and delicious traditional Italian dishes by chef Yiannis Markadakis are the main elements of Cupola’s success. Napolitan-style pizza with soft dough, as puffy as it should be and a nicely charred on the edges cornicione. Pizzas are baked in a special wood-fired oven, from which the restaurant takes its name (Cupola is the dome formed by the wood-fired oven). As for the flavour combinations, they cover all tastes, from the classic and vegetarian to the delicate and more exuberant. From the quite varied menu, the Melanzana (mozzarella, grilled eggplant, mozzarella di buffala, San Marzano tomato sauce, grana Padano and basil) stands out for its rustic and full-bodied flavour and the Tartufata (fresh black truffle, mozzarella, tartufo cream and baby arugula) for its delicate and very aromatic taste.
13, Eforionos street, Pagrati, +30 211 4117444
The Eatalians – Mario & Luigi
This beautiful and very elegant place dedicated to lovers of Italian cuisine has been open for about two years now, with many remarkable pizzas – and more. Taking its name from the famous video game, Mario & Luigi has a playful character. The pizzas are handcrafted by chef Nikos Sotiropoulos, who brings the epitome of Neapolitan canotto to Athens. The dough has a high moisture content (70-75%) resulting in a soft pizza crust and an airy cornicione with well-formed bubbles inside. As for the toppings, the chef plays with contrasts, mixing nduja’s spiciness with honey’s sweetness, the eggplant’s smokiness with caramelized onions and basil’s freshness with the rich aroma of pistachios. Each of the eleven pizzas on the menu has its own character, while the excellent baking and the smoke of the wood-fired oven enhance the flavours. We’d return for the dreamy Beatrice with beef ragu, mozzarella fior di latte, san Marzano sauce, Reggiano Parmesan and Ricotta cheese – simply phenomenal.
190, Eleftheriou Venizelou avenue, Ilioupoli, +30 210 9957953
Napul’è Italian Comfort Food & Wine
Napul’è is located on a busy street of Vari. Maggy Tabakakis and Francesco Ciccio‘s restaurant is an embassy of Neapolitan taste in Athens. Here authentic recipes, fresh, Italian-origin ingredients and the profound flavour of all the dishes on the menu steal the show. The wood-fired oven, brought from Naples, is prominently displayed in the restaurant. In front of it, Francesco – a strong Italian – puts on a real show tossing out the dough made from the mixture of various Italian flours. Traditional Neapolitan crust – big, soft and slightly crunchy- San Merzano sauce, mozzarella di buffala (100%) and delicious toppings in perfect proportions; Napul’e’s pizzas are mouth-watering. In addition to the classic and beloved Buffalina (tomato sauce, mozzarella di buffala, basil), the white Stracciata (stracciata di buffala, mozzarella and round pancetta flavoured with fennel seed) and the red Marinara (San Marzano sauce, garlic, oregano, olive oil) are undoubtedly worthy of mention. For Francesco, it’s all about bringing out traditional Neapolitan cuisine through the deliciousness of fresh ingredients spread over a light and airy dough – and he pulls it off masterfully.
43, Konstantinou avenue, Vari, +30 210 9655815
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